The - operator subtracts two numbers, variables, or expressions. Order of operations dictates that it's calculated after * and /, and at the same time as +.

The - operator can also be used on lists and matrices. For the most part, it behaves in the intuitive way, distributing the operation over each element. However, subtracting a number from a matrix (or a matrix from a number) behaves differently: the number is only subtracted along the main diagonal of the matrix. For "normal" subtraction that applies to every element of the matrix, see .-.